Equipment
In fiction and in life, powerful people often rely on powerful tools. Equipment includes just about everything your characters use that are not physically part of them, whether it be a sharp suit and a high-powered handgun or an unbreakable shield and a flaming sword. Like player characters, items have a level that determines how large a boost they grant. Items don't advance by gaining experience (usually), the maker simply chooses a level for the item when creating it. Item levels are not in any way connected to player levels—you don't have to be a 5th-level character to use a 5th-level item. Items usually grant an equipment boost, so multiple items that enhance the same score or trait usually aren't cumulative with each other. There is no hard limit on the number of items your character may possess or use; logic should dictate what is and isn't feasible. You might be able to carry seven swords at a time, but you can only fight effectively with one or two (usually). Armor The various types of equipment that are designed to protect the wearer in combat are classified as armor. There are three general types of armor. Light Armor: Ranging from thick, heavy clothes, to hardened leather plates, these suits grant an 0.3 equipment boost per item level to Guard. Heavy Armor: The sheets of chain and plates of steel that comprise these armors grant a 0.6 equipment boost to Guard per item level, but also confer a -0.3 penalty per level to Athletics, Agility, and Strength. Shields: Large wooden disks or metal sheets worn on the arm, shields grant a 0.5 boost to Guard per level. A shield must be wielded in one hand; you cannot wield two weapons or a two-handed weapon while you are wielding a shield (unless you have more than two arms). The boost from a shield is cumulative with the boost from a suit of armor. If you wield more than one shield, those boosts are not cumulative with each other; only the largest one applies. If you wear more than one suit of armor (somehow), the penalties are cumulative but the boosts are not. Tools A tool is any item that enables or enhances the use of a particular skill. Tools are very simple; each one grants a 0.5 equipment boost per item level to a single skill. Many crafting tasks cannot be attempted without an 'appropriate tool.' In general, tool is considered appropriate for a particular task when it boosts one of the specific skills associated with that task, though your GM may allow you to improvise in certain situations, such as using a battleaxe to split wood or a warhammer to work metal. Workshop: Smithing a sword requires more than just a hammer; you need a well-maintained forge, a quenching bath, a good sturdy anvil, and probably an assistant or two. A workshop is essentially a tool that is tied to a location, granting the same 0.5 per level boost to a single skill. Unlike tools, you must be trained in that skill to gain the boost. A workshop is usually located inside a structure, such as a house, and must be at least 5 units on a side. You must be located within the workshop to gain the boost and attempt tasks that require one. Weapons Put simply, weapons are the tools of war, from the simplest sharpened stick to the most elegantly-crafted estoc. Each type of weapon has a unique name, a weight category, a weapon group to which it belongs, and it grants one or more equipment boosts to the wielder. Weapons also have a size that corresponds to the intended wielder's size. If omitted, the default size is 1. Weight: There are four weapon weight categories in Hundredfold. A light weapon cannot be wielded in two hands and does not extend your natural reach, but can be thrown farther than other weapons. A medium weapon can be wielded in one or two hands and extends your reach by its size. A heavy weapon cannot be wielded in one hand or thrown, and it extends your reach by its size. A double weapon can be treated either as a single heavy weapon or a pair of light weapons, at the wielder's option. : Extended: Some weapons extend your reach even further than normal for their weight. Such extended weapons usually feature a lethal head on the end of a rope, chain, or wooden shaft. An extended light weapon increases your reach by its size. An extended medium weapon increases your reach by twice its size. An extended heavy weapon increases your reach by three times its size. Double weapons cannot be extended. : Off-size Weapons: When wielding a weapon whose size is larger than yours, its weight is increased by an equal amount (heavy and double are equivalent for this purpose), and you suffer a –1.0 penalty to checks and defenses involving that weapon. For example a size 3 light weapon could be treated as a size 1 heavy weapon. When wielding a weapon whose size is smaller than yours, its weight is reduced by an equal amount, and you suffer the same penalties, for example a size ½ heavy weapon could be treated as a size 1 medium weapon. Weapons with effective weights below light or above heavy cannot be wielded at all. Group: A weapon group represents a general shape and associated fighting style for the weapon. You must be''' proficient with a particular group to use weapons from that group properly. Some weapons may belong to more than one group, in which case proficiency with either group allows you to use that weapon. : '''Axe: Wide blades on wooden hafts, ideal for brutal chopping attacks. Includes pickaxes and sickles. : Bludgeon: A broad category of weapons that includes clubs, hammers, maces, scepters, and many natural weapons. : Bow: Ranged weapons consisting of a flexible shaft and a taut cord or string. Bows use arrows for ammunition. Regardless of its weight class, using a bow requires two hands (unless your GM is nice enough to let you draw a bow with your teeth or something). : Broad Blade: Edged weapons from daggers to swords designed for more graceful slashing attacks than axes allow. : Gun: Advanced ranged weapons with a simple point-and-click interface, including crossbows and modern firearms. Though light and medium guns can be fired one-handed, they generally require two hands (and several actions) to load. : Long Blade: Pointed weapons such as darts, knives, and fencing weapons designed for highly precise thrusting attacks. Long blades are not as effective against objects as axes or broad blades. : Staff: Simple, straight shafts of wood or metal, including batons, bos, and quarterstaves. Staff fighting tends to be more elaborate and defensive than using a bludgeon. Boost: Most weapons grant an equipment boost to either Melee or Ranged, but may grant boosts to other skills as well. Pricing Items Hundredfold does not include a default economy. GMs must choose the nature and relative values of the currencies in their world. Fantasy games tend towards gold and silver coins. Games in a modern setting may use real world currencies like euros or US dollars. Futuristic games tend towards a generic credit. Don't be afraid to get creative. When setting prices for items that have levels, a good rule of thumb is to set a base price for an item of that type, then multiply it by the square of the item level. If, for example, you set shields at 100 coins, a level 3 shield would cost 900 coins. This price can then be further modified to reflect things like antiquity, scarcity, and haggling. When pricing mundane items that have no level, the best tool is research, either from current or historical prices for real-world products, or even from other RPGs. If that sounds like too much work, there's nothing stopping you from just copying a monetary system from another game, such as the d20 Modern wealth system. Hattori Hanzo The availability of certain types of items may vary widely with the economics of your game world and the plot of your game. Even from a purely mechanical standpoint, you shouldn't be able to pick up a +1000 sword of instant death on any streetcorner. As a guideline, players and GMs should assume that the most powerful items available are built by a character the same level as the party. This hypothetical craftsman has a maxed out score (1.0 per level) in the relevant crafting skill and always performs his checks passively. This sets an upper bound on what item levels are possible at what character levels, as shown on the accompanying table. Of course this is not the upper limit of what players may create themselves. Players may also happen upon extremely powerful items in the game world as the storyline requires, but that would be up to their GM. Category:Core Rules